Noticias de Juarez

Howdy, folks!  It has been a very busy couple of weeks down here in Juarez.  We're still frantically getting ready for the baby to arrive, and work is always going to be busy.  But we are still doing well and surviving here in the Borderland.  I figured the best way to give you all updates is through brief headlines.  Here we go:

Our HHE Finally Arrived

As you may recall from a previous post, all of our worldly possessions go into two piles: Unaccompanied Air Baggage (UAB), and Household Effects (HHE).  UAB comes by air and usually arrives at your house about a week after you do.  HHE, on the other hand, has to clear a more rigorous customs review, and can take up to three months.

Our HHE took just about two and a half months, but it was good to finally receive it.  So we have spent the last two weeks unpacking boxes, organizing furniture, laying down rugs, and doing a million other things to make our house feel more like home.  Plus, I finally have some more ties to wear.  I severely underestimated the amount of ties I would need for two and a half months, so it's good to have some variety again.

We Made These Cheesy Bread Bun Things

Sarah found a recipe for some amazing rolls, which come from a pretty simple dough with parmesan cheese and cheddar on top.  But the best part of all is that you put some mozzarella in the middle of the bun before you bake them.  Too bad I ran out of all that Mennonite cheese.

We're Waging a Battle with Pigeons on Our Balcony

So about six weeks ago, two pigeons moved onto a pillar on our balcony.  I'm not a huge fan of pigeons, so we decided we needed to knock out the nest they were building in the hopes that they would move on after their home was demolished.  Alas, by the time I got out there with a broom, I saw they had already laid two eggs in the nest.  Sure, I'll destroy some birds' home, but I'm not about to commit bird-icide.

So we let the pigeon family have their nest, all while their droppings continued to pile up on the balcony.  Over the next few days, I became an expert on the pigeon life cycle, and determined that the eggs would hatch in 14 days, and then the babies would fly away three weeks after that.  So, we decided to wait them out.

The eggs eventually did hatch (well, at least one of them did), and the baby, mom, and dad, seemed to be doing well for about two weeks.  But that's where the mystery began.  We started hearing strange squawking from the balcony, and one day we looked out and the baby was gone.  Plus, new pigeons started showing up.  And the mom pigeon appeared to be injured.  What happened outside?  Was this some sort of pigeon home invasion?

Sure enough, I did some research and pigeons apparently steal each other's nests.  However, they don't normally attack each other's babies.  As near as I can tell, the baby flew off on its own around the same time the intruder pigeons showed up and messed up mommy pigeon.  Eventually, mom pigeon healed and flew off, but then all these other pigeons started showing up and fighting for the nest.

The sad thing is, I almost began to care for the pigeons.  Maybe it's because we're expecting a baby, but I was content to witness the miracle of life on our balcony, at least when we were host to a single-family pigeon house.  But, man, the neighborhood has gone downhill fast.  There's fighting, injuries, missing children.  I am NOT running a pigeon slum on the balcony!

So the last few days I have spent my free time spraying pigeons in the face with a hose and generally evicting everybody.  I'll keep you posted on how things proceed, provided I don't get my eyes pecked out.  

We Took a Trip Downtown

Sadly, much of Juarez is off limits to us FSOs, but we got permission to drive through the downtown area with a few friends of ours to get a feel for central Juarez.  It was nice to be able to get out and walk around a bit.  Many parts of the border feel kind of like the US, so it was fun to feel like you were really in Mexico.  There's not a ton to see downtown, however, besides a small plaza and the old Cathedral (and a pet store that sells cute Chihuahua puppies). 

We Made Homemade Pop Tarts from Scratch

We had a couple birthdays in the Consulate over the last few weeks, and Sarah was kind enough to do some baking for the celebration.  I was just expecting some muffins or something, but this is Sarah we're talking about, which meant we spent Thursday evening whipping up some homemade pop tarts.  We went with cherry-filled and nutella-filled, and let me tell you, they are worth the effort.

I Beat that Stupid Peg Game at Cracker Barrel  

If you have eaten at a Cracker Barrel in the last 20 years, then you know what I'm talking about.  Every table has that little game where you jump pegs until you have no more moves left.  For perhaps the first time in my life I finally made it to one peg.  This is perhaps the crowning achievement of my 30 years on earth.  I mean, that bald dude behind me seems pretty impressed. 

Going Down to Chihuahua City

A few weeks ago we had the major political elections in Chihuahua State.  As a member of the Consulate, I was invited to participate in election monitoring, which meant a quick visit down to the state capital Chihuahua City.  It was a great opportunity to go see a new city and get a better idea of what life is like away from the border.  Many of our visa applicants actually come from the city for their interviews (about a four-hour drive), so it was great to gain some perspective. 

The election monitoring was incredibly interesting, and I was glad I had the opportunity.  But perhaps most importantly, there is a Mennonite community about halfway between Chihuahua City and Juarez that is famous for their cheese.  So I may not have taken a lot of photos of my visit, but at least I got some good cheese as a souvenir. 

The Food of Mexico City!

As you all know, I like to eat.  I like to eat pretty much everything (except some seafood, but I'm working on that).  And I especially like to eat weird stuff that you would find being sold by street vendors in foreign lands (next time you're in Romania, try a pleskavita).  Which is why Sarah, in perhaps the greatest gift a woman could give to her husband, booked us for a tour of the street food of downtown Mexico City.  Basically we spent half a day walking around, taking in the sites, learning about food, and eating stuff.  Not a bad way to spend a morning in Mexico City.  So without further ado, here's a review of what's available on the streets of the DF. 

We started off the morning with a fresh tamale, and a glass of atole, which is some sort of corn/chocolate concoction that they drink in the morning.  Pretty tasty.

We had the basic corn tamale, which was loaded up with peppers (a bit spicy for breakfast).
 

Look at the size of this pork rind!  They literally skin the entire pig and deep fry it in one giant chicharron.  Don't worry, we didn't eat the whole thing.

We also stopped by a tortilleria in the morning, to watch some of the thousands of tortillas made every day in the city. 

The price of tortillas is regulated by the government since it's such a staple of the Mexican diet.  I think it's currently set around 12 pesos per kilogram (about $1 USD).

Next stop: quesadillas!  This one was filled with cheese, pork, and prickly pear cactus, which is an incredibly popular topping in central Mexico.

Another surprising twist of the morning: Sarah has a fruit smoothie.  Sarah is not a huge fruit fan, so the fact that she downed an entire smoothie must mean they are pretty good.

This was perhaps my favorite stop, the taco stand.  This guy has been selling tacos de canasta (literally "basket tacos") on this street corner for twenty years.  And the best part of all, you could buy a smooth Marlboro cigarette to finish off your meal. 

Our favorite taco was the cochinita pibil, which is a certain style of pork that they cook on coals buried underground all day.

We also stopped by a burrito stand, which isn't exactly authentic Mexican food (especially since they use flour tortillas, which are considered a big no-no), but it was still really good.

We were definitely starting to fill up at this point, but that did not stop us from passing by the carnitas truck, where they essentially deep fry an entire pig each day and then doll out the meat in tacos for the rest of the day.

As you can see, the tortilla is king in Mexico, and it is literally eaten in some form or another at every meal.

Finally, our last stop of the day was the fabled tacos al pastor stand.  Tacos al pastor are also incredibly popular on the border.  It basically consists of a giant spinning meat cylinder...

Fried up on the grill in a mild pepper seasoning...

With precisely three toppings: cilantro, onions, and pineapple.  What a great way to round out the day.  Viva Mexico!

Mexico City!

Hola, everybody!  Sorry it's been a few weeks since the last post.  As always, we are incredibly busy down here in Juarez, but I have some downtime tonight so I can finally put up some posts.  At the end of June, Sarah and I made a last-minute trip down to Mexico City.  We figured we should go on one more adventure just the two of us before the baby shows up and ruins our lives. 

Mexico City is a beautiful place, and completely different from life on the border.  It's green, cool, breezy, and you can just walk around pretty much anywhere you want.  The first day Sarah booked a street food tour for the both of us, so that we could taste the wide variety of Mexican cuisine (more on that in the next post).  We also picked up some things at the local craft markets to help fill our giant, starkly decorated home.

The next day (Friday), we took a tour of some of the historic sites in downtown Mexico City, including the cathedral and the Presidential Palace.  

Right next to the main square is the Templo Mayor, a massive Aztec temple that was discovered only recently.  They had some pretty impressive artifacts. 

After that, we made our way the Museo Antropologico de Mexico, perhaps the most impressive museum I have even been to.  We took the advice of many of our friends and family and paced ourselves through the museum.  I think we only saw about half of it, but the Mayan and Aztec displays are incredible.

I finally got to see the giant Aztec calendar, that I've seen on so many textbooks and Mexican advertisements.

Perhaps the most culturally important artifact in the museum, however, had to be this giant Olmec head, which I can only imagine served as the inspiration for that giant talking head on my favorite Nickelodeon game show as a kid, "Legends of the Hidden Temple."  Does anyone else remember this show anymore, or is it not really as awesome as I remember? 

So how do you top off a perfect Friday night in Mexico City?  With Lucha Libre, of course!  We managed to score tickets to the weekly professional wresting event to see some of the great figures of our time duke it out in the ring, including The Blue Jaguar, Mistico, Valiente, Mascara Dorada, and my personal favorite, Starman (he showed up in spacesuit).
 

The next day we started making our way to Teotihuacan, first stopping to visit the Basilica to La Virgen de Guadalupe, the most visited religious site in Latin America. 

Our next stop was the pyramids of Teotihuacan, which were pretty impressive.  We were also fortunate enough to go with a good friend of ours, Dane Nielsen, who happened to be working in Mexico City during our visit.

People were pretty impressed that a seven-months-pregnant woman could climb to the top of two pyramids (myself included), but Sarah's pretty awesome in general.

Overall, we had an absolutely fantastic time down in Mexico City, and I managed to eat my weight in tacos.  It was a nice little break from the border for the weekend.